Dance of the wolves

Re: # 91
Beejay,
``The whole world knows that there are deep underlying divisions within India based on religion, just like there are similar ones related to castes, languages, etc. Yet the vast majority goes on with its life. Over time, maybe these divisons will vanish, or not! Small pockets of trouble makers will always be there – it’s time to get USED to that obvious fact! So what? The country will go on just fine, the way India always does.

In summary, while I see that you would be upset (as any Indian ought to be) at these developments, the more important thing is to find POSITIVE acts one could do to address them! Preaching to the converts is not it! ``
Well said and I agree with you. The only thing I want to add is that more of us should be more candid about our warts, like you have been. Then perhaps people would be less inclined to pointing them over and over again.

harimau,

``Arab Muslims were the folks who gathered up slaves in East Africa. Don`t go about attributing humane behavior to these desert rats.``

And hindus were a benficient and peacful people who never praticed slavery pr any form of barberism...Ah..Ah...Ahhhcastesystemoooo....Kerchsatioooo.sorry, I must be allergic to bullsh*t...

Re: # 88

Raja:

``Would like to stay away from insulting followers of other religions and ``try`` to ignore insults coming my way.

I should try to contribute to the topic related and involve less on these side tracks. ``

---

Good for you,

But then you should avoid comments like this. #52

``Mike: Your comments about Muslims and Mohammed are unfounded, and pathetic.``

Usually, If I`m ignorant of something, I try to learn before commenting on that.. Otherwise I stay clear of that.. That would be a good practise for you too..

kannaraja:

what harimau said is quite simple and shouldn`t have you lost. arabs in a large part contributed to the slave trade. the holy city of mecca was one of the largest slave markets in the muslim world for a long long time. what all this talk has to do with this article though. . .

harimau:

as you probably know, i am neither arab, nor muslim, but i have been called a desert rat by ignoramuses. i object (in vain, i realize) to you referring to arabs as that or any other animal, no matter how much you dislike them. no matter how inhumane a lot of their behavior has been.

Re: # 86
Ana: The reason I was lost is - time? When was Mecca the largest slave market. Anyway, I will educate myself on the internet later.

#76 Che

Why the name Che? Are you old enough to remember the Romantic Socialism propagated by Che. Or just a remembrance to the days of the yore when u were a che fan ;)

You dont sound like a socialist. Probably an Enlightened socialist.

Ana:

Farzana is admittedly struggling hard to strike the balance WHICH comes so naturally to many hindus. You can see many hindus( the so called secularists and commie variety) who fight for the muslims. Even the RSS helped and served many muslims during Gujarat quake and Maharashtra quake and even during the Tsunami. How many muslims do you see helping out the hindus who suffered by bomb blasts?

Who is making muslims think in the US versus THEM. It is their own Arab ideology which makes them look at EVERY NON-MUSLIM as them. And if they live in ALL muslim country then the shias become the THEM. Or the Bengalis or the ahmediyas or the sufis. The basic thing is there has to be some IDEOLOGICAL ENEMY or they will create one. So why such pathological hatred?

Ana, all answers to the muslim trouble lies in their identity crisis. On top of that there is a HUGE DEFEAT rankling the muslim psyche that the HINDUS , the IDOLATORS, the PAGANS who are supposed to be beaten by the al-mighty allah. But the fact is the reverse, Hindus faught the muslims to a standstill. This never happened anywhere else. At the end of the day, the CROWN of the world of IDOLATORS-India, still remains overwhelmingly Hindu in everything and is gaining the confidence back. Think from the shoes of a muslim fed with the milk of hatred about the idolators and kafir hindus. If Allah is true then how come India remains a Hindu land. This one single fact alone is enough to eat you alive. So you get into a cycle of desperation. You look for solution in Arab myth called Koran and the solution that Koran gives drives them deeper into desperation. So there will eventually be a muslim revolution which will bring them into 2005 from 600 AD. Problem is if such revolution comes from a peripheral muslim country like India it will be relegated as a non-event. So Abdul Kalams are non-events.

So the revolution should start from the arab land. Iraq or Saudi should throw a leader who will revolutionize Islam. The US has started the kindling in Iraq. Next will be Saudi`s turn. So by the end of the century muslims will be out of their dark age. So once the Islam puzzle is cracked open, muslims will get back their identity and things will be normal. It might take another 100 years for that to happen.

Ref kannaraja #78

[Wasn`t slavery abolished in ME much much before the west? I have to do a google on that to get the exact dates?]

Arab Muslims were the folks who gathered up slaves in East Africa. Don`t go about attributing humane behavior to these desert rats.

Re: # 81
harimau - can you elaborate, I am lost.

``Arab Muslims were the folks who gathered up slaves in East Africa.``

Ref Kashmakash #51

[...Ask some doctor to check your DNA, it matches that of Arab DNAs. ;) ]

Actually, not likely. If his DNA matched Arab DNA, he would be in a cage in a zoo as an exhibit.

singularity:

obviously you have not read farzana`s last article. . . because she does mention imrana on more than one occasion. she doesn`t have to write an article about imrana to see that what is being decided about imrana is wrong. singularity. . . you should read a little more before you make such remarks. her last article is still on the front page.

as for your other remarks re: farzana. i see what you`re trying to say here. you are saying that if farzana is concerned about indians, and bangladeshi muslim refugees, then as an indian she should be concerned about hindus and hindu refugees as well. a sense of balance is not an unfair thing to ask of anyone. but here on chowk. . . a sense of balance has also been all but impossible. not just by a writer of farzana`s calibre.

why just the hindus? why haven`t we asked why farzana hasn`t written about the christians, another minority, who has been attacked in india. farzana hasn`t written about a lot of things that don`t involve muslims, mainly in india. do we see a lot of people writing here that don`t focus mainly on ``their own,`` balanced writing? no. i know i would like to see more of that happen. it`s not wrong to want to see more of a balance. it is also not wrong to write mostly about one`s own community, provided one doesn`t fall into an us vs. them trap even if some politicians manipulate and capitalize on that. and as i have said before, farzana is not immune to that trap. and writing about one`s own community still has an impact and a message for everyone as a whole. what you want is that when she says, ``you and i are only as different from each other as we want to be`` that she not emphasize on her difference from other indian communities. that is something more than a few indians could work on here. good luck!

Re #76, 74, 72

Singularity - You have theory and you reason to it. There are a billion muslims who disagree with your line of thinking.

If muslims are questioning Islam, good for them to know more about Islam.

#72 by CheGuevara on July 5, 2005 4:58pm PT

``I thought Islam was meant to put an endto prevailing A-RAB tribal customs that were seen as primitive and ``immoral``?``

Wasn`t slavery abolished in ME much much before the west? I have to do a google on that to get the exact dates?

Re: # 78

kannaraja:

I was in your exact position a couple of years ago.. Read Quran and browse the following websites..

www.faithfreedom.org

If people claim this is a hate web-site, go and

browse the authentic Quran website

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/quranindex.html

Then you`ll realise all this talk about ``religion of peace`` is utter BS..

``Quran`` is basically a document of hate speech against those who don`t believe in this ``arab imperialist`` cult..

Have fun reading..

Re: # 83

To read list is long for me.
Upanishads, vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Geeta. Never got to read most of anything.
No inclination to add any new items to the list.

I am new to chowk and have noticed quite a bit of name calling and personal abuse on many topics. Would like to stay away from insulting followers of other religions and ``try`` to ignore insults coming my way.

I should try to contribute to the topic related and involve less on these side tracks.

Raja

Ref Kashmakash #6

[....Farzana, your badluck, you were born as a muslim in a hindu country.]

It could have been worse.

She could be born a Hindu or Christian in Pakistan.

PS. She is NOT making a beeline to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi for a green card. She knows what happens to Shias and would happen to Ismailis in Pakistan. Or even just to women.

Re: # 77
I wish the *itch WOULD make a bee-line for Pak.Good riddance to BAD rubbish!.